Sing-song: turn long numbers into pronounceable syllables
Sing-song: a speakable encoding for long numbers and keys
Sing-song is a reversible encoding that maps arbitrary byte strings to sequences of pronounceable consonant-vowel syllables, each carrying 6 bits. Its 64-syllable alphabet is deterministic, prefix-stable, and self-sizing, with no external metadata needed. The encoding is designed for human speech and transcription, trading written density for spoken clarity. The post covers the algorithm, pronunciation rules, variant suffixes for alternative representations, and comparisons with hex and Base58, including test vectors and a reference implementation.
Sing-song trades some written density for a small, regular pronunciation grammar while remaining deterministic, reversible, and computationally simple.
- andrelaszlo
This is cool! The inclusion of z kind of breaks this for my fellow Scandinavians though. Many of us don't really hear the difference between z and s, and even if we do we can't pronounce it properly.
The P/B distinction will be difficult for many people as well.
I believe this is one of the reasons that Toki Pona only has nine consonants (/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/) and five vowels (/a, e, i, o, u/).
Somme kind of error correcting would be nice too, perhaps?
- notarobot123
> vako-poku-piki-sino-dumi-wigo-bumo-subu-kuwu-suju-joku-wuru-libi-bafa-modu-pabu-zuro-kiva-givo-liju-pomu-ra
I like it. It feels like learning a magical incantation from some ancient lost language.
- fwlr
I highly recommend adding example words to the IPA chart:
a i o u b d
/a/ /i/ /o/ /u/ /b/ /d/
cot feet frog rude bit dig
etc.